Why I Sold Hims & Hers: The Surface Cracks Beneath the Story

There are moments in an investor’s life when a position must be reevaluated not because the stock price fell, but because the conviction that once supported it has been systematically eroded. This is one of those moments.

Today, I want to walk you through one of the hardest decisions I’ve made in recent years as an ultra-concentrated investor: I’ve sold my entire position in Hims & Hers.

For those of you who’ve followed my research from the beginning, you know that this stock was one of my two core holdings. HIMS was a high-conviction bet. I believed in the simplicity of the consumer interface, the power of DTC distribution in healthcare, and the potential scale if GLP-1s and personalized care took off. I wrote multiple bullish reports on it. Some of you likely subscribed because of those reports.

But I’ve sold.

And I want to be completely transparent about why.

A Decision Rooted in Discipline

This isn’t about market timing. This isn’t about reacting to volatility or Reddit narratives. This is about doing the work. About talking to people. About questioning the original thesis. And about being honest when the facts change or the risk reward skews in the wrong direction.

When you run a two-stock portfolio, as I do, there is no room for delusion. I do not have the luxury of being wrong. I’m not building a portfolio for entertainment. I’m building it for financial independence. For freedom. For long-term wealth. So when something no longer earns its seat at the table, it has to go, no matter how much I liked the original idea or how many subscribers might have joined because of it.

Listening to the Bear Case with an Open Mind

Recently, I sat down and forced myself to look at HIMS from a different angle. I challenged my assumptions. I reviewed the entire business model, not as a fan or early investor, but as a skeptical analyst. That mental shift made all the difference.

Let’s break down the key concerns that came up and why I believe they are absolutely critical.

1. Hims is a marketing company, not a healthcare company

This is the most fundamental insight. Behind the beautifully polished app, influencer campaigns, and viral content, there’s no defensible infrastructure. No deep medical backend. No proprietary diagnostics, IP, or systems. If you remove the marketing engine, you’re left with something shockingly thin.

Compare this to Oscar Health, my remaining core position. Oscar is infrastructure. Claims management, insurance underwriting, tech-based care navigation. Deep systems that touch policy, regulation, and embedded healthcare processes. That’s what a real healthcare company looks like. HIMS, by contrast, is a consumer brand wrapped around generic services.

2. If Hims wants to become a serious healthcare player, it will have to compete with companies that do diagnostics, drug development, or highly regulated care

And it has no edge there. Zero. It doesn’t own the diagnostic tools. It doesn’t develop novel drugs. It doesn’t have a moat in medical knowledge, data science, or clinical research. To make that leap would be like a smoothie bar trying to compete with Pfizer.

3. Legal and regulatory overhang

The Novo Nordisk episode was a turning point for me. Not just because of the accusation that HIMS may be sourcing GLP-1 compounds in legally dubious ways, but because of the way the company responded. Andrew Dudum, the CEO, decided to post a casual statement on X instead of issuing a professional, formal press release. That’s not how healthcare leaders behave. That’s how marketing CEOs react.

This behavior confirmed something I’d been feeling for a while: Hims doesn’t carry itself like a healthcare company. It acts like a consumer tech brand. But healthcare demands a different level of seriousness. You’re dealing with people’s lives, their biology, their safety. It’s not a vibe business.

4. GLP-1s may be peaking

I have come to believe that the hype cycle around GLP-1s might already be cooling. If that’s true, HIMS has a major growth problem. It positioned itself as a leader in online access to weight-loss drugs, but if the demand plateaus or the sourcing becomes legally restricted, then what’s left? Hair loss? Generic Viagra? The core isn’t strong enough to carry the entire narrative.

5. Thin margins, questionable economics

Despite rapid revenue growth, the unit economics are murky. CAC is still high. Churn is underreported. The profitability path remains vague. The company talks about adjusted EBITDA, but when you look closer, the actual operating leverage is minimal.

My Own Research: The ZAVA Acquisition

I’ve done a lot of thinking lately, not just listening.

A major trigger for my exit was the acquisition of ZAVA, a European telehealth company. On paper, it looks like Hims is trying to copy-paste its U.S. model into Europe. But Europe is not the U.S. In Europe, healthcare is largely universal. People don’t shop for basic prescriptions online in the same way. The margins are worse. The demand is lower. And frankly, the value proposition is weaker.

To validate this, I met with a former ZAVA employee. Our conversation confirmed my fears. According to this insider, the company is not profitable. The economics per user are minimal. When you divide the total revenue by the estimated user base, you’re left with a revenue per customer figure that suggests razor-thin monetization. There is no leverage.

This is important. If the U.S. growth story stalls, and the European expansion plan lacks any real economic power, then where is the long-term runway?

The Feel of the Business

Here’s something that doesn’t show up in models. The feel. The texture of the business.

The deeper I looked, the more I talked to customers, industry insiders, and people on the ground, the more I realized something uncomfortable:

Hims & Hers is a very thin business

Once you strip away the sleek UI, the brand voice, the influencer buzz, what are you left with? You’re left with a company that connects a form-fill to a third-party pharmacy. There is no ecosystem. No proprietary loop. No core asset.

And that is the exact opposite of what I look for in ultra-concentrated investing.

A Word on Short Interest

I’ve also noticed that short interest in HIMS has remained elevated. And I think it’s worth saying this out loud: many short sellers are intelligent. They may be cold and unpopular, but they do their homework. They don’t bet millions against a company unless they see structural issues.

I believe many of the shorts in HIMS are seeing exactly what I’m seeing. Legal risk, low-margin structure, heavy reliance on marketing, and shallow economic depth.

When the smart shorts align with your own gut, it’s time to pay attention.

This Wasn’t Easy

Let me be very clear. Selling HIMS wasn’t a flip decision. It was hard.

When you only own two stocks, you do your homework. You don’t move casually. You think. You reflect. You imagine different futures. You run worst-case scenarios. And you ask yourself whether you’d buy it today, knowing what you now know.

And my honest answer is: no, I wouldn’t buy HIMS today.

Oscar Health, which I continue to hold, is a structurally misunderstood infrastructure layer for the future of healthcare. HIMS, by contrast, is an incredibly well-marketed front-end with no backend. That’s not where I want my capital to compound over the next 10 to 20 years.

For Those Who Will Leave

I know this decision might cost me subscribers. Some of you joined because of my bullish stance on HIMS. And I respect that. If this feels like a betrayal or a reversal, I understand why you might be frustrated.

But I ask you to look deeper.

This is not about fandom. It’s not about being right or being early. It’s about rational capital allocation. I have my own money on the line. And I cannot afford to drift into narrative-based investing. I cannot afford to sit on a thin, overvalued, high-risk stock just to save face.

I invest with concentration, and I write with conviction. If I lose subscribers for telling the truth, then so be it. But I hope serious investors, the kind who also run concentrated portfolios, understand that this is exactly the kind of move you must make to survive long term.

So Where Did the Money Go?

I sold HIMS. I freed up capital. I didn’t park it in cash.

I rotated into something that fits every single criteria I value

Essential. Durable. Scalable. Deeply misunderstood. Built for long-term compounding.

And if you’ve been following my research, you probably have a guess. But I’ll tell you exactly where that capital went.

Keep reading after the paywall.

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